The witch and the wolf

Chapter 1: An unexpected meeting

Romulus POV

I had no idea for how long I had been running through the dark forest, I was far too broken, too tired, to bring myself to be aware of what I was doing, so Mikhail, my wolf, had taken over and was doing his best to take us to a safe place, even though he isn't the strongest and I could tell it was starting to take a toll on him.

I wondered if my family had already realized I ran off, if they were even going to bother looking for me...they'll probably make a slight effort, but give up once they realize I'm in the place no one returns from.

It's precisely why I chose this place, it has all the dangerous beasts and poisonous plants that make it very inhospitable and dangerous, you really have to have a death wish to enter it...and maybe I do, but really I just wanted to escape, to a place where no one would find me ever again.

I was getting tired, so tired...Mikhail was getting tired as well...but we weren't in a safe spot yet... Did that matter though? What was the point anyway...

"You can rest, Mika...whatever fate we face now...it'll be okay, we will be together until the end" I whispered to my wolf, as I could feel the exhaustion and drowsiness take us both, probably to never wake up again.

Elina POV

"It's dawn, time to get to work!" I said to myself cheerfully, as I've become used to talking to myself after years of living alone in the forest...you really need to talk in other to not forget how to speak, or how your voice sounds.

I know the forest like the back of my hand now, something back then I didn't expect...I'm honestly surprised I made it this far, I thought the dark forest would devour me eventually, like the legends say, but by now..I'm sure I can live the rest of my life here, in peace.

As I'm following through my usual route to hunt some prey and collect some fruits, and get new seeds to plant...I find something I would've never, ever expected.

There's...a guy up ahead, some beasts seem to have attacked him during the night, he seems in very bad shape, I can't even tell if he's breathing at all...

"What should I do? What should I do?!" I start panicking a little, I haven't seen another human in years, and I feel tempted to just run away and forget what I saw...but he would die if I don't help him...I can kick leave him out of my cave the moment he wakes up... it'll be fine if I help him a little...I don't want to have a death in my conscience, after all.

I get near the guy...he's a werewolf by the looks of it, so there's no way I could lift him by myself, which means I have to use a levitation spell on him and run back to my cave so I can cure his wounds, and hopefully he'll survive this.

Getting him to the cave wasn't easy, and healing him was even harder...it took hours of work with my magic, and by the time I was done, it was almost time for the sun to set, and only then I noticed how hungry I was, and that I ended up barely picking up any fruit, and no prey at all. Luckily I always have something to eat from my garden, and some spare meat from last night that I preserved with magic, so I eat that...not nearly enough, but it'll have to do until I can go do my route tomorrow morning, since it's dangerous to be out at night.

Feeling the tiredness from the magic I used kick in, I lay down in the carpet (the unconscious guy is using my makeshift bed after all, I needed the space to cure him) and sigh, I'm glad the carpet is comfy and it's not a cold night, or else this would be much more of a pain...and with those thoughts, I drift to sleep...maybe the guy will wake up tomorrow, and all can go back to normal.